“I would love to come home. My family is here. I just bought a house here. It would be great. And just to answer critics: I’m not a veteran trying to come home and cash out on my hometown team. I’m a baller first. I wouldn’t sacrifice that for nothing.

“I would love to come home, but whoever wants me, that’s who I’m going to start with first.”

Foote has played seven seasons with the Steelers, who run a 3-4 alignment. The Lions run a 4-3, but Foote said he could play inside or outside.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the Steelers plan to hang on to Foote through this weekend’s minicamp as a last-ditch effort to trade him. Foote has one year left on his contract that was scheduled to pay him a salary of $2,885,000 in 2009.

UPDATE: Steelers director of football operations Kevin Colbert called reports of Foote’s imminent departure “erroneous,” via mlive.com. Colbert pointed out that Foote was still a member of the Steelers.

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